A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good-except God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"
"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. (If he never lied since a boy, he'd be the only one in history other than Jesus to accomplish this. None of us can follow the commandments perfectly - that's why we need Jesus to save us from our own nature and incompetence.)
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." ( Everyone reading this would be considered rich in this meaning. If you have food, shelter, clothing, and toys, you are rich enough to believe that you can fend for yourself and don't need Jesus to provide or guide. Is your time and your stuff available for God's use? Idolatry is worshiping something or someone other than God. It just doesn't work. It's not having money or stuff or family that's the problem, it's whether God comes first. What would you give up if asked by God? You can give it up for Jesus right now and follow Him. I don't mean literally have a garage sale and sell everything you have today - I mean give it to Jesus. Depend on Him solely for your peace, purpose, and provision. )
Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" They thought the rich were God's favorite. This is what was so radical about Jesus' teaching, He said that the meek would inherit the earth.
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!" Surrender your life to Jesus and He will save you from yourself and your sin and you will live in His Kingdom now and forever.
"Truly I tell you," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life."
